Date
June 10, 2019
Area
Eureka, MO
Companion
Sister Palmer
is this a weekly email or a local newspaper? not sure
14 days till I'm back with john mayer ((and my family))
jokes aside- here's how i'm actually feeling,
NOT GOOD
preparing to come home has got to be one of the hardest things anyone will ever do in their life. I'm sad to say bye to a life I have come to love with my whole heart. I have literally changed so much and have experienced the ABSOLUTE BEST 18 months of my life. I'm still in major denial that I come home so soon- is that healthy? probably not.
let me take a min to explain why everyone says it's "the best 2 years / 18 months":
•centering every single decision + action around the gospel of Jesus Christ leads you to make some of the BEST choices. It's critical to stand as a witness of Jesus Christ- it's something that we've literally promised. that means that each minute of every single day we say the things Christ would say and do the things He would do. as a missionary, your countenance literally calls people to repentance. walking down busy streets + getting stares is my favorite thing because the second they see missionaries and see our name tags, their thoughts turn to Christ. this is something I truly desire to carry with me when I am home. our countenance can literally call people to repentance when we live our baptismal & temple covenants exactly. we came to earth to obtain a body, and one of the purposes of obtaining a body was so that we could hold the light of Christ. we acquire more light when we focus every single thought on Jesus Christ.
•on a mission, you are literally a walking temple. we only get to go through the temple once every 6 months in this mission, but we still get the blessings that come from the temple every single day. when we are faithful and obedient, we learn to live our covenants exactly, which makes us a literal temple.
•when the natural man would turn inward, Christ turns outwards- you learn on your mission that not a single thing is about you. not your mission, not schooling, not marriage, not a family. everything we do is out of love to Heavenly Father and to bring us closer to becoming like Him. it may not be about us, but it us certainly for us in the sense that it helps us become the person God needs us to be. we are always in the service of our God. everything hinges on the love we have for our Savior.
I may be forced to return home, but that doesn't mean I'm going back. it's pretty amazing that we have the opportunity to continually progress. the person I've become is not a thing I leave in St. Louis, Mo. It's the most important thing I bring back to Boi, Id. we take the steps necessary to continue to learn + become. I may not talk about my mission every single day for the rest of my life from here on out (even though i probably actually will), but I certainly will live it every single day for the rest of my life.
enough about me feeling wrecked about home and trying to get it in my head, here's how the week went,
RAUL (our spanish friend) CAME TO CHURCH and everything was MUCHO BUENO. Raul sat next to a member during both meetings and at the end of second hour, the elders quorum teacher had all of the spanish bretheren (all 5 of them hahah) summarize what they were discussing and bear their testimony. they all said the spirit was insanely thick and that the gift of tongues was so present and so real. at the end, Raul said that he felt really, really good and that he was excited to come back. we had a lesson after church and invited him to be baptized on july 13th. at first Raul was extremely hesitant and told us no, but the spirit literally was not talking no as an answer. we shared some versus in the book of mormon with him and promised him bold blessings that come from being baptized. we invited him again to be baptized on july 13th, assuring him that Heavenly Father would provide a way for him to enter into the waters of baptism on this date, and he said YES and that he was excited & knew that it was right! I literally, not kidding, had actual tears streaming down my face. half of them were because Heavenly Father is just so good and literally blesses us with big miracles when we work our literal tails off to accomplish our goals- the other half were because in the back of my head all i could say was, "i'm never going to be able to do this again and i'm really, really going to miss this" and that thought got me pretty good. if this sounds like a sad sob story, it's because it is lol.
we had MLC this week which was way too good. Sister Bateman had all of the STLs come a night early to have dinner all together and held trainings for the rest of the night- dream come true. sis palm and I gave a training on the importance of being a good example- literally everything comes back to the love we have for the Savior. If we want to be a good example, we follow Jesus Christ and we learn to serve selflessly. when we do those 2 things, being a good example and loving others naturally follows because we discipline ourselves to live the doctrine of Jesus Christ. our example to others means literally everything for the rest of our lives and it's absolutely something we will be held accountable for.
for the second half of MLC, president and sister bateman said, "everyone grab your temple recommends because we are all going to do initiatories in the st. louis temple" (!!!) literally, neatest experience on my mission. after we had all done initiatories, we all met in the chapel in the temple as a MLC to talk about questions we had and hear president + sister bateman's testimonies. the spirit was so strong and it was just so cool to look around the temple room and see so many of my closest friends all gathered together in the Lord's home. I LOVE the temple and have missed it too much.
well, since this synopsis turned more into a 5000 word essay, here's a brief,
SPIRITUAL THOUGHT- sis palm and i have been having some of the very best companionship studies i have had my whole mission. we literally walk away from comp studies feeling like we just attended gen conf. this entire week we prepared to take the sacrament and dedicated a lot of our studies to the sacrament and the atonement of Jesus Christ. I am so grateful for the sacrament and that we are able to take part in the MOST important ordinance weekly. we literally walk away from that meeting stronger. we understand Jesus Christ better because of the sacrament, but He certainly understands us better. the sacrament is the most dramatic way that we can show the Savior we want to identify with Him. I know that there is so much power that comes when we prepare to partake of the sacrament and ponder the way we remember Christ and keep our covenants.
A quote that has been sticking to me lately is, "If men do not comprehend the character of God, they do not comprehend themselves." -Joseph SmithI know that one of the best ways to know God and identify with him, depends on the attitude we have when we partake of the sacrament weekly.
love you all too much + see you sooner than I want to (hahah i'm the actual worst)sister beal
pics; 1: st louis botanical garden2: best comp3: SIS FOLK :')4+5+6: sisters night7: MLC group